Bald, Bitter, and Beautiful
by missfand0m
Summary: ""I hate how people stare," she cried out angrily. "I hate, hate, hate it! Why do you have to stare at me so judgmentally?" Percy looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed and said quietly, "I wasn't staring at you judgmentally."" AU where Annabeth is a cancer patient and Percy is a (mostly) innocent bystander who happens to get the blunt end of her pent up anger.


Annabeth loved her hair.

It was curly and she liked the color, which was a blond that looked like gold when the sunlight hit it just right. Most curly-haired girls she knew complained about their curls, but Annabeth liked it. She liked the fact that she didn't _have_ to brush her hair every day if she didn't want to and that she could pretty much roll out of bed with it looking at least semi-nice.

She liked the fact that she could go a couple days without washing her hair and that no one would know the difference. She liked that it had a mind of its own and did whatever it wanted to style itself, because she wasn't good at hair so it made her life easier.

She also secretly liked all the compliments she got on her curls, though she would never admit to it.

Sure there were downsides to having curly hair, but the pros out weighed the cons as far as Annabeth was concerned.

Then the cancer came.

The doctors said chemotherapy and radiation was the best way to go, but she would lose hair. After they told her where she would probably lose it or where it would thin out, she figured she was okay with losing the hair in her armpits and lady parts. Again, it was less work for her. She just didn't want to lose the hair on her head or her eyebrows.

So, of course, she lost the hair on her head.

Thank the gods she didn't lose her eyebrows too.

After her hair started to get patchy and look funny, Annabeth decided it would be best to shave it off, no matter how painful it was to think about.

 _Bzzzzzzz..._

The beautiful, golden locks she loved so much fell to the ground, along with a few drops of water that may or may not have come from Annabeth's eyes.

She slowly got used to being bald, though she would _never_ be used to the stares she got. They haunted her everywhere. At school, in the library, on the street, her own family sometimes, everywhere.

It was exhausting, annoying, and offensive. They had no right to judge her because she was bald, yet they all did.

After a particularly hard day of stares and trying not to lose her temper at all the _stupidity_ radiating off people, she turned a corner and ran into someone. It caused her to drop the books she'd been carrying. She cursed and knelt down to get her books while the someone said, "Ah, crap. I'm sorry. I didn't see you there."

She glanced up at the culprit and saw a head _full_ of hair that automatically made her hate the person, because she _really_ wanted hers back.

It was the exact opposite of hers with its black, straight locks that looked like they had been brushed by the wind. And yet, it looked good on the guy it was attached to. He had green eyes that were complimented by his hair and a very nice face.

But just because he was good-looking, didn't mean Annabeth wasn't still pissed at him. She huffed and continued picking up her books.

"Here, let me help." The guy knelt down next to her and started making a stack of her books. After a second of silence, he added, "I'm Percy, by the way."

 _Who cares what your name is?_ she thought. She angrily grabbed one of the books out of his hands. "I don't need help."

"I'm sure you're totally capable of picking them up," Percy replied, "but since I'm the reason they're on the ground in the first place, it's nice to help you. Plus my mom raised me to fix my messes."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and looked at him with annoyance.

Percy must have felt her looking at him or something, because he glanced up at her for a second. His gaze retuned to the stack of books in his hands, then snapped back up to her face.

He gawked at her, making her feel uncomfortable and causing her blood to boil. _Why_ were people so mean? Why did they stare at her with such shock and disgust? _Why?_

Annabeth grabbed the books out of his hands and quickly stood up. She adjusted the books so they were easier to carry, since she had left her bag at home, and started to walk off. That guy was the worst person she had met today. At least all the other people tried to hide their stares; he had just full on stared at her with his mouth open!

There were sounds from behind her that indicated Percy had stood. Then he cried out, "Wait!"

Annabeth turned around and gave him a look full of bitterness and irritation. This guy was seriously trying her patience and self-control, both of which had already been tried quite a lot that day. "What?" she asked. "Want to stare at the bald girl some more? Like I'm some sort of freak show?"

His face became confused. "What? No."

She quickly continued before he could start talking again, even though she knew she was kgetting close to snapping. "You know what, why don't you take a picture? It'll last longer."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Percy replied, sounding exasperated.

Annabeth ignored him. "Just because I'm different makes it perfectly okay for people to judge me and stare at me like I'm some sort of monster, huh? Well, they don't know why I'm like this. They have no right." Annabeth could feel years of pent up anger from years of pretending like she didn't care and that everything was fine building up into a crescendo. "I _hate_ how people stare," she cried out. "I hate, hate, hate it! Why do you have to stare at me so judgmentally?"

Percy looked at her with his eyebrows furrowed and said quietly, "I wasn't staring at you judgmentally."

"There's no other kind of staring at I know of." Annabeth would've crossed her arms if her books weren't in her way. She started tapping her foot rapidly in annoyance as a way of working off the rest of her steam.

"No one has ever stared at you out of admiration?" Percy said with skepticism in his voice, like he didn't believe that this was the first time she was hearing this. "Or because they thought you were pretty?"

Her foot stopped moving. Someone thought she was pretty? Really? She had a hard time believing that. After all, she was _bald_. There were hardly any pretty, bald people and she was quite sure she wasn't one of them.

"No," she answered. "No one has ever stared at me like that since my hair was shaved off."

"Well," Percy said, looking her straight in the eye, "people are stupid then. Because I think you're beautiful. That's why I was staring at you, not because your bald."

Annabeth stared at him, shocked. She could feel all her anger and frustration melting away.

Percy's cheeks started to color, probably because he was uncomfortable from her staring at him for so long.

"Uh..." Annabeth didn't know what to say. There weren't many times where she was struck speechless, but this was definitely one of them.

They stood there awkwardly for a minute, both staring at their feet and wondering what to do next.

Any resentment she had felt towards Percy before dissolved and she realized she had judged him by thinking he was judging her. She assumed he was looking at her judgmentally, while she was the one judging him too quickly.

She was no better than all the people who had judged her.

"Soo...what's you're name?"

Annabeth looked up and told him.

"Annabeth," he repeated. Then a huge, cheesy smile grew on his face. "A pretty name for a pretty girl."

Annabeth rolled her eyes, but found herself smiling. "You did not just go there."

"Oh yes, I did," he said triumphantly, with a twinkle in his eye. "I am literally the king of corny pick-up lines."

Annabeth couldn't help but chuckle. She tried to find words that would express how grateful she was to him for being more open-minded than most people, how he had shown her something about herself even though he had just met her, and how she felt right in that moment. But all that came out was, "Thank you."

He replied with, "You're welcome."

They held eye contact for a minute, then Percy gestured to the books she was still holding. "Can I carry those for you? My mom also taught me that it's nice to carry a girl's books home for her." He grinned at her.

Annabeth returned his smile. "Yeah, sure."

 **Inspired by a pin I saw.**


End file.
